Jon in Mexico

I hope this sounds silly to you. But sometimes we think this way about missions trips. We talk ourselves into believing that we can only be a help on a short term missions trip if we fit into the majority of the standards listed above.

I thought the same way before I went to Mexico my first time. I had none of the above qualities and declared myself completely un-useful for a short term work trip. What actually got me to go? A little encouragement from a brother in Christ that I could be useful on the team… and… that the team was REALLY LACKING PEOPLE.
Unfortunately, I think that there are people who may be interested, but think the way I did 8 years ago. How could I possibly help? I’m too young? I’m too old? I don’t know anything about construction. I can’t speak Spanish.

Here’s a list of the occupations of some of our past team members just to show an example of the kind of people God has used in the past:

- High school teacher
- Artist
- Accountant
- Student
- Pharmaceutical worker
- Small business owner

God used them in a marvelous way here in Mexico! And he can use you too!

Here’s the REAL “Wanted” add:

Please pray this week and ask the Lord the following things:

1. That He may reveal himself to those who he has chosen to serve in Mexico from July 1st -15th (appx. dates for the trip).
2. Could God possibly use me?

The deadline for signing up is coming up soon and the group is not even half full. Please keep this in your prayers.

For more information about the trip, or to express interest in going, please contact Len Noble at CEFC.

If you have any questions for me (Jon), please email me.

God Bless,

Jon

Posted by Jon at 08:47 PM | Permalink

It’s just different

In Mexico, just about everything is done a little differently then what I’m used to. That’s not earth shattering news to anyone, I know. But some times it creeps up on you and catches you by surprise.
Last weekend I attended a wedding at Cristo Victorioso. One of the sons of a wonderful family in the church was marrying a young lady from the church. Ok, no big surprise there… weddings are normal. Here’s what threw me off: A month before the wedding they asked me to be padrino de las flores… or, “best man of the flowers.” Yeah, I had no idea either what that meant when they asked me, and soon found out. In Mexico, especially within the indigenous cultures, weddings are an event that is literally “shared” by the guests. It’s not the bride’s parents that pay their life savings to make the wedding happen… it’s the guests! Novel idea, especially if there’s not very much money in the family in the first place. The people who are chosen to buy certain things for the wedding are called “padrinos” and are usually people who know the family well. The Bible, the flowers, the food, the ring, the mat that they kneel on to pray and other wedding ceremony needs are all provided by the guests.
Before realizing that I had no clue about anything regarding flowers for a wedding, I agreed to do it. The day before the wedding I traveled with two brothers from the church, Jose and Modesto, to the largest market I’ve ever been to in my life, in the north of the city of Puebla. There we bought all the flowers that the bride and groom had listed and literally filled up my whole car with big bunches of flowers (like 70 white roses and all kinds of other wedding flowers). The whole trunk was packed and the back seat and floor were almost completely full to the window, except for a little space for Jose to sit. It was unbelievable how inexpensive the flowers were. Before we got to this place, I thought that we would be picking through flowers that looked like they washed up on the beach or fell out of the back of a truck. But they were really beautiful.
They also asked me to be the chauffeur, which meant driving the bride and bridesmaid from the house where they got ready to the church. This required getting my car “adorned” with flowers, wreaths, big puffy bows and ribbons. Thankfully, adorning the car was someone else’s job. And fortunately, after the wedding was over, I had time to get my car back to normal before parking at my apartment and drawing an uncomfortable amount of attention from my neighbors.

Caring people

I came down with a flu bug a few nights ago and have been sick for the past few days. Of course it wasn’t fun at all, and still isn’t, but I’ve seen some really neat blessings come out of it. I was amazed at how my neighbors responded when they found out I was sick. “Why didn’t you tell us, Jon?”… Well, it was 12 midnight when it started… “It doesn’t matter, you should have told us, we have special medicine, tea, remedies.” This was the way that at least three of my neighbors reacted when I told them I was sick. “Don’t let that happen again. When you get sick, tell us. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is.”
It really was a blessing to me to hear my neighbors’ reactions and how much they really cared. Some of their scenarios were a bit extreme, “Jon, what if you fell, or passed out… or what if you have this disease or that and don’t get it treated.” I guess that’s all possible, but nevertheless I saw a piece of Mexican culture that I was incredibly impressed with. They are very caring people.

A FEW MORE FACES

ALBERTO, LAURA and DIANE

Almost every week I spend time with Alberto and his family. I see him on Friday evenings and at the Wednesday evening Bible study now. He and his family have been a great encouragement to me and have helped me in many different ways since I moved into the community. Alberto has accepted Christ as his savior and continues to grow in knowledge of the truth as he reads in the Word.

EFRAIN

Efrain is one of my best friends here in Puebla. His father, Salvador, was the man who had the vision for starting the church Cristo Victorioso about 10 years ago. The church actually started in their house, (where this picture was taken), and grew so large that they had to search for another location. Efrain is studying Architecture at a local university here in Puebla. Their family has treated me “like family” ever since I have arrived. I get over to their home about once a week.

OMAR

I get out to visit Omar about twice a week. On Tuesdays I go over to his home and talk, pray, cook something or get some tacos and talk about what we read in Scripture during the week. He still lives alone, 14 years old and doesn’t know where he will be in the next few months… (New York City, Tlaxcala, Puebla…) However, he desires to walk with the Lord and continues to read in his Bible. On Sundays I bring him to the evening church service at Cristo Victorioso. After the service we usually play soccer with the brothers at C.V. who have given him the nickname “la mini magia” because of his extraordinary soccer skills.

Posted by Jon at 11:08 AM | Permalink

It’s not difficult to write an update letter when everything is going well. I love to encourage people, especially with news of how God’s work is being accomplished here in Puebla. But this time around, it’s not as easy to write. Nothing terrible has happened, but this past week has been very difficult for myself and everyone else on our team. Honestly, I only want to write when things are going well, because frankly, who wants to read someone’s article about how difficult things have been? I hope you are able to see through this update that, even though things haven’t been easy lately, the Lord is working and accomplishing his will.

English Camp

Have you ever gone through an incredibly uplifting spiritual experience, and found yourself the next week, next day, sometimes the next hour, absolutely in the pits?
In my last update letter (February), I mentioned the English camp that we had here in Los Heroes two weeks ago. I probably didn’t realize it at the time, but having that group here from Fargo, with people my age, believers, great fellowship and wonderful times of worship each day, was a real highlight of my past few months. After the team left I went back to language school and although I knew I’d miss the team, I just tried to focus on my work and what was next. Needless to say, it was very difficult to change gears again in the following week after the team left.
The whole next week, after the English team left, our Puebla team has been experiencing trials and difficulties in other ways as well. One of the reasons for these trials, apart from having to say goodbye to such an awesome group, is that the house church here in Los heroes is so big, it’s ready to multiply… and so are our weekly men’s and women’s Bible studies. That's a great thing! Multiplication was one of the goals of working with the house churches. We are finally at that point, but the devil has been throwing one difficult situation at us after another, trying to prevent it from happening. This past week has been one of heavy spiritual oppression, combined with trying to change gears from the great English camp, felt by the whole team in different ways.

Some thoughts from 1 Kings

The Lord recently led me to 1 Kings, where I was reading about Elijah’s standoff with the 500+ false prophets of Baal and Asherah. King Ahab had recently been killing all the prophets of God in the land and was seeking to take the life of Elijah too. Elijah was sent by the Lord to confront Ahab and the people of Israel regarding their wickedness and idolatry. Two alters were built, one by Elijah and the other by the prophets of Baal and Asherah. Each side was required to call upon “his own” God to bring fire down from heaven and consume the burnt offering. The false prophets spent all day, yelling, dancing, cutting themselves, but nothing happened. At the end of the day, Elijah had his turn. He had his alter doused with water three times and then prayed to God to reveal himself to all the people there. God sent fire from heaven that consumed everything, even the rocks and the water. The false prophets were slaughtered by the people and they turned back to the Lord their God. (1 Kings 18).
After an experience like that I would think that Elijah would be on top of the world spiritually, thrilled after having seen what the Lord had done, with confidence and renewed strength for the days ahead. But we read in the following chapter that Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, had sworn to kill Elijah the very next day. 1 Kings 19:3-4 tells us that, “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
What an amazing turn of events! After having seen the awesome power of God destroy His enemies and bring His people back to Him, Elijah is running for his life from Jezebel, ready to die!
Elijah was one of God’s prophets, faithful and obedient, one of the more holy men that ever walked the earth. But even he, after seeing the awesome power of God, being lifted up spiritually and seeing the Lord’s people turn back to him, he was in the pits.
I’m not by any means in despair, or running for my life. But I have been going through a desert lately… and it has come right after a really uplifting time with the group from Fargo. I know that it’s the kind of thing that happens to all kinds of Christians. James 1 even says that we shouldn’t be at all surprised when it does happen. It happens to construction workers, teachers, police officers, missionaries… even prophets. I say all this to remind you and me that these things will pass, and that it is not uncommon. But we must keep walking with the Lord, reading scripture daily, confessing sin regularly, and praying… trusting that He will once again lift us up.

Thanks so much for all of you who prayed on Sunday night for me at the prayer meeting. I know that it was planned weeks in advance, but the Lord knew that it would be just the right time. I felt a burden lifted that evening that I had been carrying all day… actually all week long. I know that it was a result of your prayers. Thank you… and praise God.

Prayer Items

1. “The testing of our faith develops perseverance.” (James 1) Pray for continued perseverance through these “dry” times and to trust that God will provide everything and teach and mature me in the process.
2. The house church is about to multiply. Please pray for wisdom and discernment for the leaders to do this in a God honoring way, that will allow his church to continue to grow.
3. Continued opportunities to share the Gospel with my neighbors. I actually had an opportunity to share the Gospel with a man today named Gabriel. I prayed specifically this morning that God would provide someone to share with, and he provided!

Thank you all so much for your prayers! Those of you who have been emailing me regularly, thank you so much for that. I always love hearing from you all back home.

May you all have a great week in the Lord.

-Jon

Posted by Jon at 08:43 PM | Permalink